World

Two armies, one goal: stopping Mexico-US migration

US, Mexico deploy troops to curb migration; border crossings drop 65% since Trump's emergency order.

AFP March 08, 2025

A Mexican National Guard officer patrols at a high point of El Nido de las Aguilas in eastern Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on March 5, 2025, on the Mexican side of the Mexico-US border. Photo AFP

TIJUANA, MEXICO:

On one side of the border, US soldiers unfurled barbed wire. On the other, Mexican soldiers monitored a gap in the border wall. Both had the same objective: to curb irregular migration.

Mexico and the United States have deployed thousands of troops to their 3,100-kilometer (1,900-mile) frontier since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, when he immediately declared a border "emergency."

The efforts appear to be paying off: the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a 65-percent drop in migrant interceptions in January compared with the same month of 2024.

"If before there were a hundred daily crossings, now there are no more than five. Yesterday there were none," a Mexican National Guard officer told AFP during a patrol on the edge of the border city of Tijuana.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, attributed the fall to coordination between US and Mexican border patrols, including a WhatsApp chat in which they share data, photos and videos of their operations.

Mexico has stepped up efforts to contain fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration to the United States, seeking to address two issues that Trump used to justify the 25-percent tariffs that he imposed on Mexican goods.

After a call Thursday with Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump agreed to suspend most of the duties until April 2.

The two countries were "working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Armed Mexican troops patrolled the steep slopes of an area on the edge of Tijuana known as Eagle's Nest, a well-known crossing point for migrants who are often guided by traffickers.

On the other side of the border, to the west, was the US city of San Diego, about 15 hours away on foot.

Since February 20, about 30 soldiers have set up camp next to the border, on a hill surrounded by ramshackle homes, dirt roads, chicken coops and garbage.